Private Jet Blog

Monday, April 18th, 2011

Top Execs Fly in Class of Their Own

To quote Southwest Airlines commercials, plenty of us “wanna get away.” No doubt, captains of industry do, too. But they won’t be joining you in the exit row.

Some of America’s largest companies don’t allow their chief executives to fly commercial, even when they’re off the clock. Many cite personal safety and security — backed up by third-party risk assessments — as primary reasons they require chief executives to use company planes.

Big names in Georgia business — Coca-Cola, Home Depot and soft drinks bottler Coca-Cola Enterprises — require their chief executives to use corporate aircraft for personal travel, including vacations and trips to other companies’ board meetings. The practice dates back more than a decade at Coca-Cola and is longstanding at other companies.